Chapter 158 : Fief War (1)
“We have to immediately dispatch a messenger. A fief war at a time like this! This is ridiculous!”
First Prince Simon Rinse shouted with a brightly flushed face.
For once after a long while, he was currently pouring out his rage to his heart’s content.
However, the thing that instead shot out from the opposite side was a sharp and cold smile.
“Older brother. Can you really say such words even after listening to the report? The ones who first attacked the fief is the Count Lancephil Troop. The Count Chase Troop has merely invoke its right to self defense.”
Snickering lips.
The owner of the annoying and provocative voice was the Second Prince Tommy Rinse.
At the urgent message that flew from the kingdom’s Northeast, Rinse Kingdom’s three princes and the nobles had hurriedly sought the palace grand hall.
An outbreak of a fief war between Lancephil County versus Chase County.
Rinse Kingdom had ended a large scale war and a subjugation, and had just began to calm its breath.
Each fief were focusing on healing the damage and exhaustion that had piled up until now.
Thanks to that, the Rinse Kingdom was maintaining a precarious state of peace even in the middle of the throne succession competition.
However.
‘The entire kingdom should shake once again with this fief war.’
‘Count Lancephil versus Count Chase……’
‘Prince Simon versus Prince Tommy, no is it a battle of Prince Simon versus the other two princes?’
The fief war at the current situation wasn’t at a level of power struggle between nobles.
‘The one who wins this fief war can walk ahead in the throne succession competition.’
If Count Io Lancephil won, the throne succession competition would become Simon’s solo landslide.
On the reverse, if Count Jonathan Chase won, Tommy and Kallum, who had fallen behind a bit, would gain strength once again.
“We have to immediately stop the fief war!”
Simon glared once at Tommy, then shouted towards the nobles.
“That is correct! A fief war at a time like this……”
“Lancephil County and Chase County are major border regions. If a fief war breaks out at a place like that, an enormous hole will be created in the border defense.”
“We cannot respond properly if the Byron Kingdom and the Istel Kingdom invade.”
The nobles who followed Simon pour out words of support at the top of their voices.
But.
“Firstly, let us clearly go over this once more. According to the messenger’s report, the one who first attacked the fief was the Count Lancephil Troop. The cause of the outbreak of this fief war is in Lancephil County. We acknowledge that point, no?”
“Hhm.”
At Tommy’s words, the nobles who supported Simon all swallowed back coughs with uncomfortable looks.
‘Why would Sir Count Lancephil commit such a foolish thing?’
‘Conspiracy. This is definitely a conspiracy.’
‘Sir Count Lancephil isn’t a man who would commit such an act.’
Count Io Lancephil was a noble who loved the kingdom more than anyone.
He wasn’t a man to start a trouble first because of trifle things.
But however it was, it was true that the Count Lancephil Troop had attacked Chase County first when they only looked at the objective facts revealed until now.
“Chase County has invoked its right to self defense to protect itself, and are taking the momentum to push back the Count Lancephil Troop who are the invaders. Furthermore, the Count Chase House and the Count Lancephil House have been rivals for generations, and the aged emotions between the two houses aren’t a kind that other people can understand. The Count Lancephil Troop attacking Chase County too is……”
For a while, Tommy explained his thoughts on the current fief war with a clear and definite voice.
Stepping up to the center of the grand hall, he looked straight at Simon.
“I will repeat, the one who first started this event was Lancephil County. At a situation like this, to order a withdraw to Chase County is highly unreasonable. Leaving the assailant and scolding the victim isn’t something very nice to look at. Isn’t that right, older brother?”
As expected, his voice was annoying and provocative.
Simon sharply trembled his entire body while clenching his fists.
He wished to throw a punch and break Tommy’s jawbone at any moment.
But then, everything would end.
It was certain that the nobles who supported Tommy and Kallum would flock up like a swarm of bees.
‘If not careful, I could be dropped from not only this fief war problem but also the throne succession competition.’
Barely pressing down on the anger that rose up to his throat, Simon exhaled a long sigh.
“Tommy. There is also truth to your words. But the two counties are located at major border region. If we just leave the fief war alone, a large hole will be created in the border defense.”
At those words, the Third Prince Kallum Rinse, who had been standing at the back, walked forwards.
“Older brother. Please don’t worry about that. We just need to send a fast message to the Northern Regional Corp and the Eastern Regional Corp to make full defensive preparations. Furthermore, the Istel Kingdom and the Byron Kingdom currently aren’t in a situation to invade our kingdom.”
It was true.
In domestic situation, the Byron Kingdom and the Istel Kingdom were more appalling than the Rinse Kingdom.
“Hhm.”
Simon thinly opened his eyes and glared at Tommy and Kallum.
‘So they will join together.’
It was something he had expected ever since he first heard the news of the fief war’s outbreak.
‘No, the fief war itself may perhaps be those guys’ work.’
Simon gritted his teeth.
He turned his head and stared at Duke Bradley Webster.
The man who was one of the four dukes of the Rinse Kingdom and maternal grandfather.
But for some reason, Bradley shook his head as soon as he met Simon’s eyes.
Clearly, it was a gesture to stop and step back.
‘Why……?’
Even amongst the nobles who supported Simon, Io was on the side of those of large power.
It was a situation where if he lost at this fief war, Simon’s base could shake greatly.
Simon, with eyes full of disbelief, stared at Bradley.
At that moment, Bradley stepped forwards with a short sigh.
“I have heard well of Prince Tommy and Prince Kallum’s words.”
The four duke houses were one of the great columns that supported the Rinse Kingdom.
The weight of Bradley’s statements were different than the statements of ordinary nobles.
Naturally, everyone’s gazes headed towards him.
“But even so, we cannot just merely watch. I believe it would be good to limit the length of the fief war to one month and disallow the participation of other fiefs excluding the Lancephil County and the Chase County.”
“Sir Duke Webster!”
Simon shouted as he creased his brows.
Bradley shook his head with a solidly stiffen expression
It meant not to step up any further.
“Kuk.”
Although Simon was the First Prince of the kingdom, he couldn’t thoughtlessly cling to him and protest.
With a completely flushed face, he could only close his mouth.
‘Just what is he thinking……’
When Simon stepped back, Bradley slowly looked around at Tommy and Kallum as well as many nobles and asked.
“How is my proposal?”
Unlike the soft voice, the light in his eyes were glaringly shining.
A light seemingly telling them to concede at an adequate level since I have also stepped back this much.
Tommy and Kallum’s eyes moved rapidly.
Duke Edwin Voisa and Duke Liss Kowan subtly nodded their heads.
‘It is fine with this much.’
‘The situation is more advantageous to us.’
Their intentions were passed through the light in their eyes.
Tommy and Kallum faintly smiled and nodded their heads.
“As expected, I could only clap at Sir Duke Webster’s insight.”
“Since fief wars like this are something that are common. As long as it doesn’t escalate, it doesn’t seem that there is anything that will particularly become a problem.”
The two people’s smiles tinged with a cold light.
Already, they knew of the inside story set behind the current fief war.
‘Duke Webster. It seems that he is trying to put a brake ahead of time in case me and Kallum join hands and aid Count Chase, but……’
‘How tragic. Even though Count Lancephil has collapsed from the inside. Kuk.’
Laughters kept leaking out.
When they thought that Simon and Bradley didn’t know anything, their mood naturally become good.
Bradley, knowing or perhaps not knowing the two people’s such inner thoughts, faintly smiled as he nodded his head.
“Then, I will organize the content we agreed on and report to his majesty the king.”
He tried to hurriedly clean up the meeting.
Simon still had an expression that said it was hard to understand, and Tommy and Kallum’s expressions were those of forcefully holding back laughters.
Looking at the sight of the three princes, Bradley slightly shook his head.
‘Huh…… they are all still young.’
An unknown and peculiar smile appeared on his mouth.
That was a truly guileful smile.
*****
Kuaaaa!
A hideous scream exploded out.
That was rather closer to a wail.
“No, no way.”
“Is, is he really the lord?”
“Sethus isn’t able to do anything!”
The expressions of Tale Legion’s soldiers were half dazed out of their minds.
They were staring at Roan, who had rode the column of water and soared up.
Shwaaak!
Each time the Travias Spear moved once, a jet of water cut through the space.
Following the complex and beautiful line of the spear, a great spray of water rose.
And each time, Sethus’ solid body split straight apart and crimson blood sprouted out.
‘To think the power that the essence of water has is this much.’
Roan, who was fluttering blue hair and pressuring Sethus, was inwardly being greatly shocked.
It was because the power that the essence of water, the water energy, that was wrapped around the surface of the mana hole was much greater than he had imagined.
‘If only there was a powerful mana technique like the Flamdor Mana Technique……’
He would have shown a might several times more powerful than now.
When his thoughts reached about that point, a bitter smile hung on Roan’s mouth.
‘Flamdor Mana Technique is strong but the heat I could actually use is scarce, and the water energy is truly plenty but actually has no mana technique that could properly utilize it.’
The heat and the water energy.
The two were both still at half-done states.
Of course, even so.
‘It’s this strong!’
Roan gritted his teeth and thrusted the Travias Spear forwards.
Suddenly, an amazingly large stream of water formed a shape of a sharp spearhead and flew towards Sethus.
Kueng!
With a horrible scream, Sethus violently swung the one arm that was left.
But.
Puuk!
The spearhead-shaped stream of water directly pierced through its arm and stabbed into its body.
Ssskuk!
The steam of water that penetrated all the way to a deep place within its body soon lightly disappeared and hid its trace.
Kuaaaah!
Sethus wailed and shrieked as it looked at the widely perforated arm.
Roan prepared the final strike as he watched that sight.
‘I want to torment it more if I could, but……’
In truth, he too wasn’t quite full of leisure.
After he had soared up out of the lake, heat kept coming in and filled the mana hole that had been empty.
‘It becomes hard to control the water energy the more the heat fills in.’
Not only that, the power too was drastically decreasing.
‘So I still can’t control both energies together at once with my skill.’
Although he felt regretful, he had no plan of being greedy.
Because the heat and the water energy may collide and rampage while forcefully trying to control the two energies.
‘I will go slowly.’
There still was a lot of time.
‘For now, let’s take care of this bastard.’
With his teeth gritted, Roan twisted his wrists.
The Travias Spear tightly clung to his side.
A stream of water soared following the spear’s shaft and the spearhead.
It literally was the final strike.
There was no need to leave any water energy within his body..
Paaaat!
Incredible water energy whirled with Roan as the center.
The hair that was colored with a blue light slowly returned to its original color.
The skin that was transparent also found its own color.
[Roan.]
Kinis, who had grown as much as a little girl, also shrunk to a size of a palm.
The one thing that was at least good was that her form was still clearly visible.
‘Sorry. For making you become small again.’
[It’s fine. For now, this is more comfortable. Since it was also hard for me to adapt because I suddenly grew so big.]
Kinis forcefully smiled brightly and flew onto the top of Roan’s head.
Roan slightly nodded his head instead of an answer, then glared at Sethus.
“Let’s finish already.”
He briefly threw those words.
Kuaaah!
Sethus answered with an unintelligible and terrible shriek.
Breathing in deeply, Roan directly thrusted the spear.
The water energy that was whirling around his entire body rode the stream of water and flew towards Sethus.
Shwaaaak!
The stream of water cut and tore through space.
Sethus glared at the stream of water flying towards him and fully opened its gigantic mouth.
Kuah!
With a horrible sound, a jet of water of an incredible size spew out.
That was much bigger and thicker than the stream of water that Roan had shot.
“Ah……”
“No!”
The Tale Legion’s soldiers, who had been watching, exploded out regretful exclamations.
It seemed as if Sethus’ stream would eat up Roan’s stream.
To that much degree, there was a clear difference between the two streams.
However, Roan didn’t even blink an eye.
‘I believe it.’
He believed the power of the essence of water, the water energy, that he was carrying.
Kinis too, with a confident expression, stayed on top of Roan’s head.
And finally.
Booooom!
Roan’s stream and Sethus’ jet collided.
With a sound of explosion, a great wave of water sprayed everywhere.
“Kuuk.”
“Ugh!”
At the wave of water that hit their entire bodies, the Tale Legion’s soldiers gritted their teeths.
Boom!
An explosion rang out once again.
The soldiers thought that Roan’s stream was eaten up by the incredible jet of water.
But.
Kuaaah!
The one that panicked was Sethus.
The monster saw Roan’s stream that was insignificantly small piercing through its jet of water and slowly approaching.
Kuaaah!
Sethus struggled with its entire strength and sprout out a jet of water once again.
But even so, it couldn’t stop Roan’s stream.
Almost like a strong salmon, Roan’s stream of water climbed up against Sethus’ jet.
Kuaah!
Sethus threw up a monstrous scream at the end.
That was a wail mixed with despair and fear.
Simultaneously.
Puung!
With an amazing sound of explosion, Sethus’ head exploded out.
Shwaaak!
With a great spray of water, the spouted blood thickly spread like a fog.
“Uugh!”
“Wugh!”
Few soldiers couldn’t endure the thick smell of blood and vomited.
Kukukukukukung.
Meanwhile, Sethus, which had been standing straight up, leaned diagonally and slowly fell.
An incredible swell hit the ships.
“Kuk!”
“Grab the safety ropes!”
Panicked voices echoed from here and there.
But even during that while, Harrison raced to the forecastle.
Towards the place Roan was standing until just now, he yelled at the top of his throat.
“My lord! My lord!”
An anguished voice shook the thick spray of water.
Soon following that, even the other soldiers swarmed up to the edges of the deck.
“My lord! My lord!”
“Turn on the boat light!”
“Show him our location!”
Hurried sounds filled the space between the ships.
As the heartrending sounds kept continuing on, several soldiers cried out in tears.
“Hhgh. My lord.”
“Hhhugh. Hhg.”
At that moment.
“I’m not dead so stop crying.”
A familiar voice was heard from the center deck mast.
A soft but powerful voice.
It was definitely Roan’s voice.
The flagship’s soldiers, including Harrison, all rushed towards the center of the deck.
Ssssss.
At the mast that wasn’t even very visible due to the spray.
From above it, a black human silhouette was coming down towards the deck.
Tap.
A soft landing movement.
The man who appeared with a faint smile was Roan.
The blue colored hair and the transparent skin had regained their original colors.
“My, my lord!”
“My lord! Are you hurt anywhere?”
Starting with Harrison, the soldiers ran towards Roan.
Roan brightly smiled as he shrugged.
“I’m fine. Rather than that, first……”
Staring at Sethus’ corpse bulging up above the lake, he formed a strange smile.
“There is something we have to do.”
“Something we have to do, sir?”
Harrison asked with brightly red eyes.
Roan slightly nodded his head and spoke in a quiet voice.
“There’s one rumor I heard since a long time ago, and……”
The smile hanging on his mouth became much thicker.
“I plan to test it.”
His expression and voice were weighty.
Harrison and the soldiers unknowingly followed Roan’s gaze and stared at Sethus’ carcass.
That almost brought to mind a small island in the lake.
Vvuuuuu!
Soon, a sound of horn signalling advance echoed out with the flagship as the center.
Shwaaak!
Soon, tens of ships crossed the water’s surface and began to move.
Their target was Sethus’ carcass.
Their goal?
Only Roan knew it yet.
< Fief War (1) > End.